In between Elon Musk’s ill-fated function as a senior adviser to the president, operating SpaceX and proudly owning X, the world’s richest particular person has taken on a brand new enterprise, opening the “retro futuristic” Tesla Diner in Los Angeles.

The enterprise opened its doorways in Hollywood at 4.20pm on Monday, providing a charging station, drive-in and a diner that serves, as Musk promised, “traditional American fare like burgers and milkshakes” and wagyu beef chili, breakfast tacos and “iced nitro” matcha. Footage from the diner’s opening confirmed robots serving popcorn, burgers served in Cybertruck-shaped bins and episodes of Star Trek enjoying on the restaurant’s giant outside screens.

Tesla followers lined up exterior the diner for hours earlier than its opening, with some touring in from throughout southern California to attend and pulling up in Cybertrucks and Mannequin Ys.

“I’m hoping the robotic can be right here. I actually wish to take a look at out the toilet, as a result of we’ve seen cool footage of the toilet. However the rooster waffle sandwich is meant to be good; the fries are imagined to be good,” one attendee instructed NBC Information.

Musk first introduced the thought in 2018, pitching an “old style drive-in, curler skates and rock restaurant at one of many new Tesla Supercharger areas in LA”. Building on the two-story silver construction started in 2023, and was accomplished this 12 months as Musk took an more and more seen function within the Trump administration main the so-called “division of presidency effectivity”, and overseeing mass layoffs in federal authorities.

The location’s first degree is about 3,800 sq ft in addition to an outside seating area and meals prep space unfold throughout 5,500 sq ft, based on Fox 11. Tesla homeowners can order meals from their autos, based on the diner’s web site, and Musk has stated the enterprise can be open 24 hours a day to Tesla homeowners and non-owners alike.

The mission has not been with out controversy. Earlier this 12 months two Los Angeles restaurateurs, the couple Walter Manzke and Margarita Manzke, have been closely criticized after talking in help of the diner and Musk to the New York Occasions.